Idaho State University’s Student Activities Board (SAB) kicked off its annual Springfest event Monday, April 15. The events will continue until the event finale, an Emerson Drive concert on April 19.
Springfest is an SAB-hosted event intended to raise the spirits of the student body.
Mandy Donaldson, the SAB Bengal Pride chair and coordinator of Springfest says the event is very popular with students, estimating the expected attendance to be in the hundreds.
“It’s usually one of the larger events we do,” says Donaldson.
With events spanning a week of school, Springfest is geared towards students who may need a break before finals week.
“We want it to be a good closing for the year,” says Donaldson, commenting that it may help students relieve some stress before they “have to buckle down and study for finals.”
Donaldson and others at SAB have been planning the event since last semester, spending “hundreds of hours planning.” Donaldson remembers building “several of the events from the ground up.”
The week also involves many prizes. Donaldson estimates up to $3,000 worth of prizes will be handed out to ISU students.
Donaldson hopes that students who may not have won prizes at other popular SAB events this year, such as Bingo, will have more luck here.
“We want prizes for the people who missed out,” says Donaldson, commenting that she did not win any prizes at any SAB events last year until Springfest.
The various events throughout the week are intended to appeal to a wide range of students. This year the events focus on mobile app-related games.
On Monday, April 15, “Icomania” took place, a game in which contestants had to guess what app an icon represented.
Tuesday, April 16, held a “Song Pop” competition, where contestants heard a portion of a song and had to guess the artist and title.
On Wednesday, April 17, “Bengal Cab” will be hosted, a game where staff members will drive around in ISU golf cart and ask students trivia questions. Question topics include ISU facts, Idaho trivia and pop culture.
Additionally, the annual Mr. ISU competition will take place at 7 p.m. in the Student Union Building ballroom. Admission is free for everyone.
Thursday, April 18, will hold the competition known as “4 Pictures 1 Word.” The game features an app that shows the contestants four pictures and a letter bank, contestants must guess the word using clues from the pictures. This event will take place at 7 p.m. in the SUB ballroom. Admission is free for ISU students with valid Bengal IDs, $3 for faculty and staff, and $5 for the general public.
The week of events will conclude on Friday, April 19, with an Emerson Drive concert. Emerson Drive is a country band well-known for their hit single “Moments.”
The concert, also taking place at 7 p.m. in the SUB ballroom, is $5 for students with valid Bengal IDs, $7 for staff members, and $10 for the public.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Donaldson says that she and others at SAB initially “sat down and looked at the bands that were coming here or nearby” as a starting point for booking a band for Springfest. They then made use of Facebook, creating surveys to poll students about favorite musical genres.
Donaldson comments that settling on Emerson Drive was easy — “they won us over. We know it will be a good show.”
Brody and the Outlaws, a popular local band, were chosen to open for Emerson Drive.
All events are free to students with a valid Bengal ID.
